RE makes a powerful contribution to young people’s learning. It provides them with the chance to explore the big ideas of religion and belief and to think about what matters in their own lives.
Good RE supports the development of the whole child. It also has a significant contribution to make to whole school improvement. With the renewed focus from Ofsted on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development for all pupils, it is more important than ever that RE is recognised and celebrated.
The RE Quality Mark has two purposes: it recognises good practice in RE and also provides a powerful tool for development. Schools which have applied for the award have found that it affirms the work they are already doing, raises the profile of the subject and gives them ideas and confidence for developing their practice even further.
The criteria and exemplar evidence in the REQM School Evidence Form will help you to determine the award level you meet. These criteria are divided into four sections:
Learning
Teaching
Curriculum
Leadership
The assessor will also talk through the evidence with you and will discuss with a member of the senior leadership team the extent to which RE is supported in the school. We suggest that you highlight those criteria which you think you meet and give brief examples of how you meet them.
During the meeting, the assessor will make notes about how secure the evidence is on the school evidence form. At the end of the visit, the assessor will usually be able to tell you the level they will be recommending for the award. This will be confirmed by the REQM Administrator who will arrange for a certificate to be sent to the school.
A key part of the evidence is what your learners say about RE. You need to survey the views of young people in your setting, using one of the learner questionnaires. The assessor will spend time speaking to a range of pupils in school.
The assessor will also talk through the evidence with you and will discuss with a member of the senior leadership team the extent to which RE is supported in the school.
Use the criteria and exemplar evidence in the REQM school evidence form to help you to determine the award level you meet.
Please Note: We will need to know if your school requires a Welsh speaking assessor for the visit. Please include this request in an emai to the REQM office.
There are no grants available at the moment through the REC (June 2020). Schools are encouraged to contact their local RE Trust if there is one available, or their local SACRE for advice about individual applications and support
I just wanted to write to say what a positive experience our Quality Mark assessment was. It was really good to spend some time explaining all the great things that we have been doing. My colleague and I have only been heading up RE for the last three years and reviewing the progress we’ve made in that time has been such a rewarding experience. It has also allowed us to refocus on our priorities for the next few years and think of how we can move our department forward.
In RE we argue and debate in RE but we stay friends!
Auschwitz was just a photograph then when I went there, it was different.
RE starts things and we think ‘this is fantastic’ lets take this across the school!
If someone is not your religion it is nice for them to have a taste of your religion and celebrate what you do.
In our RS ‘A’ Level class we get to compare our essays, which helps to improve our essay writing, but also improve our knowledge and understanding of topics.
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